Let’s classify PeopleSoft HCM clients into early or late adopters based on the General Availability (GA) date of the PeopleSoft release and the product support policies as defined by Oracle. This will give insight into why clients need to upgrade to the next version by a specific date. Oracle support is divided into three categories:

• Premier sHupport provides comprehensive maintenance and software upgrades for Oracle Applications for five years from the GA date.
• Extended support puts you in control of your application upgrade strategy by providing additional maintenance and upgrades for Oracle Applications for an additional fee.
• Sustaining support provides maintenance for as long as you use your Oracle software but will not provide additional updates or fixes to your application.

The timeline below shows the overlap between HCM 9.1 and HCM 9.2 releases.  PeopleSoft 9.1, generally available in September 2009, is on premier support till end of September 2014. Then only tax, legal and regulatory support is available till end of September 2015, after which HCM 9.1 is on extended support, which requires an extra fee to receive the tax, legal and regulatory support. After September 2017, HCM 9.1 is on sustaining support, meaning there will be no more updates, fixes or new tax updates. You can select to be on sustaining support, but will derive minimum value out of the applications and risk being out of compliance.

The time line for PeopleSoft HCM 9.2 is similar. Made generally available in March 2013, premier support ends in March 2018. Then only tax, legal and regulatory support is available till end of March 2019.  It will be in extended support for an additional fee till March 2021 and in the sustaining support stage thereafter.

  The primary advantage of being an early adopter is that you derive a greater value out your applications by realizing the benefits earlier. The primary drawback is that you are on the technology and application emerging edge, and may be adversely impacted by product bugs for which you may need to wait for a solution.

 Late adopters, those who moved to HCM 9.2 between mid-2015 and September 2017, benefit from a HCM 9.2 product thoroughly tested by the early adopters and all available bug fixes. The primary drawback is the lost opportunity to realize the benefits of this application in the first 2 ½ years of its release.

 Very late adopters are those who decide to upgrade after September 2017 when HCM 9.1 is in sustaining support. The very late adopters lose huge opportunities to gain productivity that they could have realized sometime over the past five years.

 I have seen clients in both the early and late categories. The very late category is rare; very few clients choose to be there. Based on the above analysis and my experience, I think the best time to upgrade is during the second year of release of the product. Your organization will benefit from the new delivered features, functionality, and underlying technologies. You will minimize the risk of product bugs and maximize the value you derive from the new application!

 Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts on the early and late adoption strategies for PeopleSoft applications.